Have the Greens blown it in Brighton? | Politics | The Guardian Green party Have the Greens blown it in Brighton? After sweeping to power in 2010, the party talked of building a utopian future for British politics. But bitter infighting and the realities of austerity have left their dream in disarray Caroline Lucas in 2010 and a scene from the Brighton rubbish strike. Photograph: Rex Features; PA Sunday 15 December 2013 14.29 EST First published on Sunday 15 December 2013 14.29 EST Share on Messenger Close The popular image of Brighton is a city where it is sometimes easier to buy a vinyl copy of a Funkadelic album than a pint of milk, and people really do while away the days in vegan coffee shops, dressed in corduroy loon pants. The reality, of course, is more complicated, but the idea persists of a retro-fixated would-be utopia that has precious little to teach the rest of the country. And yet, for the past two years, Brighton has been blazing a trail away from Westminster's tired three-party system towards a much more interesting way of doing politics.

At the 2010 general election the constituency of Brighton Pavilion elected Britain's only Green party MP, Caroline Lucas . Since 2011, Brighton and Hove city council has been led by the same party. The Greens have 21 councillors to the Tories' 18 and Labour's 14 (just to prove that Brighton is cooler than a lot of other places, the Lib Dems have none at all). For the past two-and-a-half years, they have formed a minority administration, pledged to making the city fairer and more sustainable, despite cruel cuts handed down by the coalition. With a slight air of overexcitement, their leading lights say they want to make Brighton like Barcelona, Sydney or Toronto, while other Greens seem to think it can be some sort of revolutionary hotbed a la Petrograd, or Turin – or, if necessary, Liverpool circa 1985. And there have been unarguable successes. Thanks to the council's crusade for better pay, 102 of the 400 private UK businesses that pay the living wage are located here. The local Greens have embraced imaginative policies on housing and regeneration, and officially declared hundreds of acres of council land "open-owned".

Brighton has become the world's first "One Planet" city , and much is made of plans for everyone there to "live well within a fairer share of the earth's resources". What has played out here may well be a portent of life beyond traditional party politics, where a fiercely engaged, socially networked electorate send things spinning away from the usual way of doing things. The trouble is, it has been accompanied by an unholy series of battles that have set the Greens not just against their usual political enemies – witness an ongoing battle over raised parking charges and lowered speed limits – but each other. And now Brighton's radical Green future is in real danger of being snuffed out before it has even got started. The Greens still affect an air of determined optimism. "William Gibson once said: 'The future's already here but it's not evenly distributed,'" says the Green's council leader (or, to use their preferred title, "convenor"). "Maybe we're seeing the future of politics in Brighton before the rest of the country catches up." His name? Jason Kitcat . The surname, he tells me, comes from the west country, and an era long before chocolate snacks and cat food. It meant that he was teased at school.

"Heavily, yeah," he says, with a guffaw. "But it gave me the thick skin to be a politician now." We meet just behind Brighton station, in the New England quarter, at a huge block of reconditioned shipping containers that a local housing trust has done up as flats. They will be used by people currently in homeless hostels: an example, I'm told, of "the Brighton spirit", which exemplifies creativity, ambition, and the idea that you can get things done quicker than some people think. Jason Kitcat, Brighton Councillor … has had 'a few ups and downs'. Photograph: The Green Party Kitcat is 35. He's a warm, occasionally self-deprecating presence, with a goatee beard that probably makes stereotyping him easier than it should be. His Polish-born wife, Ania, is also a Green councillor. He came to Brighton in 2000 to start an internet business, joined the Greens because he liked the idea of "thinking very long-term", and became the figurehead of the council in May last year. How has his first 18 months at the top actually been? "All councils are having a tough time," he says.

"But I'm not going to deny that we've had some ups and downs, and as the only Green council, and the first Green council, there's been particular attention. And we have unfortunately provided some ill-advised stories which have not been helpful." It is something of an understatement. This summer, as hundreds of thousands of people swarmed to Brighton to enjoy the tropical temperatures, the Greens hit big trouble. First, the time came for Kitcat's annual re-adoption as council leader, and one of his own colleagues sent a private tweet to the leader of the council's Labour group, in effect asking if he would support an anti-Kitcat coup . Inevitably, Labour was delighted, and it gleefully went public. ("It was a tricky time," says Kitcat. "But she apologised profusely, and I accepted her apology and we moved on.") Another Green councillor took to his blog and gave the following glowing summary of Kitcat's record: "Jason Kitcat's policies have time and again betrayed working people, city residents – and the electoral interests of the Green Party of England and Wales." That must have been nice. "I would have preferred it not to have happened," says Kitcat. Then came the infamous bin strike.

Kitcat's administration had resolved to belatedly bring the council into line with equal-pay legislation, but the process was handed over to council officers, rather than being worked through by politicians. As some saw it, he was washing his hands of responsibility for the proposed outcome – pay cuts of as much as £4,000 for some of the council's rubbish-collecting and street-cleaning workers. The result was a week-long strike, and strange scenes indeed: rubbish piling up in the streets and businesses being warned against clearing the streets themselves by a mysterious outfit called " the Brighton and Hove Talibin ". Lucas supported the strikers; Kitcat was apparently nowhere to be seen. Author and local resident Lynne Truss delivered a picture of what happened. "The place turned into Armageddon," she wrote. "Helped by foxes and the seagulls ... a tide of used teabags, eggshells, soiled kitchen paper, banana skins, smelly tin cans, and used sanitary towels (yes!) advanced in such a determined and menacing manner down nice residential streets, you could almost hear it breathing." "It wasn't pleasant," says Kitcat. "It was very difficult. Of course it was.

We didn't want to be there." Caroline Lucas celebrates after becoming Britain's first Green Party MP. Photograph: PA Archive/Press Association Ima And how did he feel about Lucas being on one side and him on the other? "Ultimately, we both wanted a fair outcome. The difference was, I was in the driving seat. From a negotiating point of view, I couldn't be out on the picket lines, could I?" He insists that contrary to allegations that he hid himself away, he "was in conversation on a weekly basis with the union officials, and all the officers involved". He claims the eventual agreement as a success – but those who wanted to portray the Greens as a divided shambles had no end of ammunition, and they were helped by the party's noble refusal to adopt an orthodox disciplinary system whereby any rebels could be whipped into line. Some of them, it was claimed, were "watermelons": green on the outside, but red in the middle, and therefore dangerously leftwing. Others, such as Kitcat, were said to be "mangoes", with orange metaphorical pulp, denoting the cautious and centrist instincts of the Lib Dems.

There was even talk of "figs" – green-and-black types – who were essentially eco-anarchists. "There genuinely isn't a kind of hard split between different people, and fruits. It's not the case," Kitcat insists. He laughs like a drain. "The media and the public seem to want authentic, free-speaking politicians, who seem genuine and honest, and not constrained in how they put forward their ideas. On the other hand, every time someone seems to break with the leaders or the party line, they're a rebel, and it's 'splits'. We're in a bit of a bind, aren't we?" Next year, the Greens come to a big juncture. They will have to make around £25m of cuts from the council's budget, and the scope for efficiency savings will have run out. Kitcat says his party will "do the best we can for the people of the city", but the decisions required will inevitably be unpleasant. Some people think that pushing through such punishing measures will kill the Greens' lefty credentials, and it would be much better if they picked a watershed fight with the government. North Laine district … the classic image of Brighton.

Photograph: Alamy Ben Duncan is one of the alleged watermelons, and the councillor who accused Kitcat of betrayal in his blogpost. A former journalist who now works for a Green party MEP, Duncan has floated a handful of provocative ideas, including a "tourist tax" on some of the city's bigger hotels, a possible boycott of one of the taxi firms opposed to the Greens' 20mph speed limit, and the possibility of Brighton allowing the opening of cannabis cafes and becoming the British version of Amsterdam. When asked on Twitter if he himself inhaled, he said this: "I only smoke weed when I'm murdering, raping and looting!" It was, he says, a reference to the famous anti-cannabis film Reefer Madness, but his political enemies didn't seem to get the joke. Now, he is really on the warpath. There is mileage, he reckons, in the idea of the Greens following the lead of Trotskyite Labour councillors in 1980s Liverpool, refusing to set a cuts-based budget, and thereby putting Brighton in the vanguard of UK-wide anti-austerity resistance. Appropriately enough, we meet in a city-centre cafe called the Red Roaster.

"I think we need to do something that makes people think: 'Hang on – if you vote for the Greens you get something different,'" he tells me. "On behalf of people around the country, we need to make it Brighton and Hove versus this government, about austerity. We should either refuse to set a budget or try and set a budget that under the current legislation would be unlawful, and say to the government, 'Well, you come in and do it – you see how local people benefit from you sending a hit squad in to take over from elected politicians who won't deliver your austerity measures.'" Kitcat isn't impressed. "It's absurd, frankly," he says. "Gestures like that will actually change nothing for residents, because the government will impose a budget on the council anyway." Duncan, however, says he will keep on keeping on – so one presumes that in the buildup to a final decision, it'll be mangoes and watermelons all round, again. The leader of Brighton and Hove Council's Labour group is 46-year-old Warren Morgan, who looks like Al McWhiggin, the villain in Toy Story 2 (thick-set, glasses, neat beard).

In September, he called on the Greens to "get a grip, or quit", said they were making Brighton "a laughing stock", and proposed a moratorium on all new Green schemes, "unless it can be proved that they have public support". He has made a habit of going after the Greens on issues such as cannabis cafes and ill-advised tweets, which may indicate that by Brighton standards he's a bit of a square. At this suggestion, he emits a noise halfway between a groan and a smirk. "Speaking personally, I'm not the most hipster of people," he says. "Some people in Brighton would not identify with that image. It's a very, very varied city. It's not all hipster-cafe arts culture. And we try and represent everybody. "The Greens' focus has been far too much on the city centre," he says. "They are not a party of the estates. They're a party of the city centre and the universities. There's nothing wrong with that electorate, but they need a broader view." With Labour on 38%, the Tories on 25%, and the Greens on 21% , Morgan seems to fancy his chances of being the council's next leader.

He and his comrades also want to use the Greens' travails to bring down Brighton's brightest political star, Caroline Lucas. If her seat fell to Labour, politics-as-usual would return to this patch of the south coast, and the short era of watermelons, mangoes and figs would be over. "I have a lot of confidence in the people of Brighton," she tells me. "And I'm confident that they'll make a distinction where necessary … to be able to judge me on my record. I don't think you can hold an MP answerable for decisions they had no control over. People like to have an independent Green voice in parliament, and irrespective of their views about the local council, I think many people would be very sorry to lose that voice, sticking up for Brighton." That might suggest she's trying to distance herself from her own party's local record, but when prompted, she comes out with a long list of Kitcat and co's achievements. She also talks about her own work in parliament: reminding Labour of its supposed principles and opposing the renewal of Trident, putting the case for the public ownership of the railways, and more. But what happens if all that gets sacrificed on the altar of ill-advised tweets and the bin strike?

It'd be a crying shame? "It would be a crying shame," she says, and emits a mirthless laugh. Does she think of herself as a mango or a watermelon? "I've always refused to answer that question. I don't think it's a helpful question, and I'm not going to define myself as a piece of fruit," she says. I've always liked to think of her as having watermelon-ish leanings. "Thank you.

But I'm not commenting on my fruitiness, to you or anyone else." Council leaders say they need 4.75% rise to fund adult social care services because of coalition government cuts Published: 16 Jan 2014 'Green Yes' campaign for Scottish independence also proposes state-owned renewable energy, land tax, and cheaper childcare Published: 15 Nov 2013 Green MP to stand trial after entering not guilty pleas to offences allegedly committed during fracking protests at Balcombe Published: 16 Oct 2013 Your Member of Parliament (MP) | Brighton & Hove City Council Your Member of Parliament (MP) The names and contact details of the MPs are: Brighton Kemptown - Simon Kirby MP (Conservative) Office: 1 Central Court, Central Avenue, Telscombe Cliffs, Peacehaven, BN10 7LU Tel: 01273 589178 / 587319 or 0207 219 7024 Surgeries: For surgery details and to make an appointment, please phone 0207 219 7024 Brighton Pavilion - Dr Caroline Lucas (Green)

 Office: Brighton Media Centre, 15-17 Middle Street, Brighton, BN1 1AL Tel: 01273 201130 Hove - Peter Kyle MP (Labour) Office: 99 Church Road, Hove, BN3 2BA Tel: 020 7219 6133 About Members of Parliament The UK public elects Members of Parliament (MPs) to represent their interests and concerns in the House of Commons.

MPs are involved in considering and proposing new laws, and can use their position to ask government ministers questions about current issues. MPs split their time between working in Parliament itself, working in the constituency that elected them, and working for their political party. Some MPs from the ruling party become government ministers with specific responsibilities in certain areas, such as Health or Defence. Working in Parliament When Parliament is sitting (meeting), MPs generally spend their time working in the House of Commons. This can include raising issues affecting their constituents, attending debates and voting on new laws. Most MPs are also members of committees, which look at issues in detail, from government policy and new laws, to wider topics like human rights. Working in their constituency In their constituency, MPs often hold a 'surgery' in their office, where local people can come along to discuss any matters that concern them. MPs also attend functions, visit schools and businesses and generally try to meet as many people as possible. This gives MPs further insight and context into issues they may discuss when they return to Westminster. There are 650 MPs in the UK and three represent Brighton & Hove, one in each of the three constituencies: Brighton Kemptown, Brighton Pavilion and Hove.

The three constituencies are held by one Conservative, one Green and one Labour MP. Elections are currently held no more than every five years. The next election will be no later than May 2020. Lunacy of the town that turned green: A ban on bacon butties. Traffic-calming sheep. Transgender toilets. Sounds like a send-up? In fact, it's the all-too-real story of how Britain's loopiest party took over Brighton... | Daily Mail Online Lunacy of the town that turned green: A ban on bacon butties. Traffic-calming sheep. Transgender toilets. Sounds like a send-up? In fact, it's the all-too-real story of how Britain's loopiest party took over Brighton... Brighton Pavilion is the Green Party's only seat in Parliament Idealism and environmental improvements have gone down well Other stunts like Meat-free Monday and transgender toilets, not so much In addition, the party's inexperience in power has left them struggling comments With the sun shining down on a shimmering sea, children playing on the beach and families thronging its cafes and boutiques, Brighton seems the perfect postcard portrayal of English serenity.

Strolling down the cheerful promenade, the resort’s celebrated blend of raffish charm and Regency elegance appear little changed over the years. It is difficult to imagine this is the home of a civic revolution. Yet this is the greenest city in Britain, the launchpad for an attempt to reshape the nation’s political landscape – and the result is a dismal farce. Scroll down for video Facing a backlash:Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas is the first and only Green Party representative in Parliament A rising tide of splits, stunts, U-turns, gaffes and divisive industrial disputes has alienated voters and angered businesses here in a city better known for its bohemian tolerance, while outlandish proposals for a ban on bacon butties and plans to use sheep for traffic calming have earned only derision. The serious side of politics has suffered, too – a demonstration of the dangers that await when protest parties win power. A doomed attempt to impose the biggest council tax rise in the country ended with humiliating warnings that Whitehall could be forced to take over the Town Hall. Welcome to the Green Republic of Brighton and Hove.

RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share Starting with just one councillor in 1996, the Green Party’s rise to power in Brighton has been unprecedented and rapid. In 2010 there was the election of Caroline Lucas as the MP for Brighton Pavilion – the party’s first Westminster seat – and then came the capture of the city council just a year later. A clever mix of protest, pavement politics and promises of change proved popular with residents, many of them families forced from London by soaring house prices, students, or those attracted by the city’s liberal approach to life. In 2011, the Greens ousted the Conservatives to become the largest group on the council with 23 seats. According to their leader Jason Kitcat, this was to be the future of British politics. Not so idyllic: The Green Party¿s 'cuddly combination of middle-class idealism and municipal inexperience' has seen them struggle in a city the size of Brighton as the economy has suffered It is hard to share his optimism.

The party’s cuddly combination of middle-class idealism and municipal inexperience has hit the rocks of political reality as it grapples with a fast-growing city of 275,000 people in tough economic times. ‘Winning was the worst thing possible for them,’ said one opposition councillor privately. ‘You can see they still want to be popular the whole time and dislike responsibility.’ The Green honeymoon was short-lived. Take the surreal story of an elderly elm tree. First the Greens voted to upgrade a roundabout in the city called Seven Dials, but then found that there were protests to protect the 170-year-old tree beside the site. Eco-warriors camped out in the branches and pinned poems to the trunk. The national media showed an interest. So the Greens switched sides, joined the campaign to spare the 60ft elm from the chop and then spent a small fortune altering their own traffic scheme. Then there was its manifesto pledge for ‘Meat-free Mondays’, which would have banned bacon rolls and beef pies from council-run staff canteens. It led to complaints from manual workers and the proposal was ditched.

Residents were similarly surprised at Green plans to introduce livestock to one of the main routes into the city as part of a ‘speed reduction package’. The scheme was deferred after protests. There have been times when it seemed that the business of town hall administration was descending into absurdity on a daily basis. Brighton was declared a ‘no fracking zone’, even though there is no prospect of shale gas drilling in the city. Needless to say, Green councillors have flocked to anti-fracking protests in nearby Balcombe, where Caroline Lucas was among dozens arrested last summer. She was cleared of public order charges last week. At last month’s council meeting, a Green member accused a former Tory leader of wearing a swastika. She wasn’t. It turned out to be a traditional Irish emblem on her necklace. Yet beyond the comedy lie serious consequences. After three years of political mismanagement, Brighton’s citizens face soaring charges for council services and increasingly scruffy streets. Yesterday, the Greens were under fresh attack after part of the seafront collapsed into a pub below. Even recycling levels have fallen to half those achieved by Tory-run Bournemouth.

Positive outlook: Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council Jason Kitcat called the party's election into council majority 'the future of British politics' The governing party is fatally split with, inevitably, divisions erupting into the open. Unlike other political parties, Greens do not ‘whip’ members into line to get policies passed, and meetings can descend into rows more suited to the Punch and Judy shows down on the beach. A slim majority of moderates under amiable council leader Mr Kitcat have fought ceaseless challenges from a cabal of hard-Left councillors led by his deputy Phelim Mac Cafferty, a prominent gay activist. The different factions are known as ‘mangos’ (green on the outside yet yellow, like Lib Dems, in the middle) and ‘watermelons’ (green on the outside but red in the middle). So serious are their differences that outside mediators were reportedly called in to reconcile the two sides. Mr Kitcat narrowly survived the latest attempt to depose him only last month – thanks to the support of his Polish-born wife Ania, a fellow moderate on the council. So much for the new politics.

When refuse workers went on strike against efforts to stop long-standing Spanish practices in working hours and to harmonise pay with female council staff, they were supported by the watermelons – Mr Mac Cafferty and eight colleagues. According to one councillor, some of these staff earned more than £50,000 a year by manipulating allowances and overtime payments. ‘They must be the highest paid bin drivers in the country,’ he said. The strike last June led to the strange sight of the council leader telling binmen to get back to work, while his deputy joined the picket line as rubbish piled up in the streets. Ms Lucas, the MP, added fuel to the fire by backing the protesters. Earlier this month, the unions threatened another strike. Perhaps the greatest threat to the Green utopia – and the dignity of a proud and successful city – came two months ago when Mr Kitcat proposed a 4.75 per cent council tax increase. Supposedly a response to government cuts, this was interpreted by opponents as an effort to unite his fractious forces. The huge rise required a local referendum, the first since the Coalition Government brought in new rules to protect taxpayers.

Yet even holding the vote would have cost at least £300,000. The whole initiative was defeated in the council chamber, leading to deadlock over the budget. Officials warned that a team from Whitehall might have to take over the running of their city. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, pictured at a hearing at Brighton Magistrates' Court last month, has been cleared of two charges relating to the anti-fracking protests outside an oil drilling site in August 2013 Days later, Labour and some moderate Greens backed a compromise increase just under the two per cent permitted without the need for a referendum. As Labour leader Warren Morgan put it: ‘The rise might have been fine for those who can afford organic food, but not everyone lives in the trendy city centre.’ Then there was the case of the Christian councillor who opposed gay marriage. Christina Summers said she was ‘accountable to God above any political party’, so she was abused by her colleagues and drummed out of the Green group. ‘I was called everything from a bigot to a fascist,’ she told me. ‘For some of these people, ideology is far more important than personal relationships. They just think anyone identifying as a Christian is against homosexuals.’ Ms Summers now sits as an independent.

‘I feel very sad, since our election successes were amazing achievements,’ she said. ‘Unfortunately they have no understanding what being in government means, which is the need to show some compromise.’ This from a party that claims on its website to be committed to ‘a caring, inclusive and democratic society’ that enables everyone to ‘follow their interests’. A 74-page report on ‘Trans Equalities Strategy’ to eliminate discrimination and avoid discomforting transsexuals asked for gender- neutral toilets and transgender-only sports sessions. Doctors were also urged to stop identifying patients according to gender on forms at GPs’ surgeries. Residents are being offered the category ‘Mx’ (for Mixter) alongside Mr, Ms and Mrs on council forms. This prevents ‘an unnecessary sense of exclusion and frustration to be forced to accept a title that doesn’t reflect someone’s gender expression.’ Political rivals say that a Green addiction to gesture politics is changing the nature of the city. It does not take long to find evidence supporting their claim. Typical was the Occupy Brighton camp set up shortly after the Green takeover. At first it was praised by party councillors. Inevitably, however, the cluster of tents began to attract people with drink and drug problems.

It was eventually closed down after a fireman was assaulted while putting out a blaze. Graham Cox, a Tory councillor and former head of Sussex CID, said the Green council promoted an image of Brighton as a place of protest and alternative lifestyles that welcomed the homeless. ‘They don’t care about things like cutting the grass and keeping flower-beds tidy, so our town is getting scruffier. They are basically hippies who don’t give a damn about such things.’ Others residents I spoke to said the same. And, sure enough, walking back along the main street connecting Brighton with Hove, I found five rough-sleepers on one 200-yard stretch amid the smart cafes, food shops and clothing outlets. Not so bohemian: Although seen as a city of tolerance, Brighton's patience with the Greens is running out Luke, 47, was sitting on a cardboard sheet in a shop doorway reading a Wilbur Smith thriller. ‘I came here because I heard that the facilities were good with drop-in centres and free food,’ he said, adding that he had been pestered by drug dealers offering him free samples. The council has also been accused of attracting travellers.

Its policy was described by one rueful Green councillor as ‘come in and take over our parks’ – which is precisely what happened last summer. Council officials unlocked the gates for 30 travellers’ caravans to enter Wild Park, the area’s largest nature reserve with spectacular views over the city. Their action – reportedly taken to prevent injuries should the travellers try to break in – made it harder to evict the group, costing local taxpayers thousands of pounds in legal fees. This pushed up the bill for dealing with illegal travellers last year to nearly £200,000, the second highest in the country. Yet the gates were unlocked again last month to let in another convoy of 19 caravans. Little wonder that a poll last summer found the party plunging to third place behind the Tories and Labour, a disaster for this fledgling political force in its heartland. Time and again I heard complaints over transport. Parking fees have soared – one woman told me she was giving up her part-time bar job since it was no longer viable once she had paid the charges.

As for the business community, one boss of a Brighton-based green business who was initially delighted when the party took control of the council told me: ‘Now it’s just embarrassing – they’re making a pig’s ear of everything. ‘They have fine ideals but lack any sense of reality. ‘How could they not see that if you double the price of parking in a downturn, it drives away business?’ At least the cycle lanes look good. Mr Kitcat told me he was proud of his party’s record, especially raising the minimum wage for council staff and contractors and improving Brighton’s air quality. Yet the council leader – a republican educated at one of the country’s top public schools – admitted he was disappointed by the internal dissent. ‘This is the first time we have been in administration and it is definitely a learning curve,’ he said. ‘While it is a lot messier than people going with the party flow, isn’t it quite healthy to have this freedom?’ Caroline Lucas, whose marginal seat is threatened by the meltdown in the Greens’ popularity, denied the party was any more divided than others in local politics.

But Ben Duncan, a prominent ‘watermelon’ who has proposed taxes on tourists and the introduction of ‘cannabis cafes’, said there were major philosophical differences between Greens seeking revolutionary change to society and those not wanting to alarm voters. He admitted wanting to kick out the council leader. Indeed, in a blog he said that Mr Kitcat had betrayed both his city and his party. Contempt is growing for mainstream politics and, on the eve of local elections next month, voters must question if they really want more of these alternative protest politicians actually taking office. They might heed the words of one Brighton shopper I met. ‘They seemed to have so many fresh ideas,’ she told me. ‘Now we just roll our eyes at any mention of the Greens – they’ve turned out even worse than the others.’ BBC News - Election: Green Party gain first MP with Brighton win Election: Green Party gain first MP with Brighton win Caroline Lucas: "It is the start of a new political force in Westminster" The UK has its first Green Party MP after Caroline Lucas won the seat of Brighton Pavilion, with a majority of 1,252 over Labour's Nancy Platts.

Ms Lucas, the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said voters had made history by electing her to Parliament on a swing of 8.4%. "Thank you so much for putting the politics of hope above the politics of fear," she told them. "I pledge that I will do my very best to do you proud," she said. "For once the word historic fits the bill." The Green Party stood in more constituencies in England and Wales than ever before, fielding more than 300 candidates. Although Ms Lucas is their only MP, the Scottish branch of the party has two MSPs in the Parliament at Holyrood, while there are two Green members of the 25-strong London Assembly. One of their MSPs - Patrick Harvie, who represents Glasgow and is co-leader of the Scottish Greens - said the result "changes everything". Caroline Lucas celebrated with her husband after being elected as an MP "The whole party will be over the moon to see Caroline Lucas's triumph in Brighton," he added.

"Westminster was always going to be the toughest nut to crack, and Caroline has made an extraordinary breakthrough." He said the House of Commons would now have "a real voice speaking out against the cuts to public services, for equality and for a greener and more sustainable economy". Ms Lucas has described the prospect of a hung parliament as "interesting", saying it may increase the chances of securing "a fairer electoral system, so that people's voices are properly heard". It would also be important in "giving the Greens that bit more influence", she told BBC News. "So, I think these are pretty exciting days ahead." The party had had 200 people campaigning in the seat of Brighton Pavilion on Thursday to ensure those who had said they would vote Green did so, she said. Bookmark with: Our People Our People Elected Greens Green representation is increasing at all levels of government.

At the start of 2015 the Green Party currently had the following elected members in England and Wales: one MP (Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion) one member of the House of Lords (Jenny Jones) three Members of the European Parliament (Jean Lambert in London, Molly Scott Cato in the South West and Keith Taylor in the South East) two London Assembly members (Caroline Russell and Siân Berry) more than 160 principal authority councillors across England and Wales A full list of our Spokespeople can be found here . To contact our spokespeople for interview or comment please contact the Green Party press office: press@greenparty.org.uk Phone: 020 7549 0315 (Journalists only) National Executive The Green Party National Executive (GPEx) and the Green Party Regional Council (GPRC) are the democratically appointed groups responsible for the strategic direction of the party, as instructed by members at Conference. TAKE ACTION Brighton – Green Party Watch Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, won a hotly-contested race in Brighton Pavilion to become the Greens’ first-ever member of parliament.

Lucas thanked supporters for “putting the politics of hope above the politics of fear.” In the election at large, Labour and the Liberal Democrats lost seats while the Conservatives gained; however, the Conservatives failed to win a majority, making it possible that Labour and the Liberal Democrats will form a governing coalition. In the second constituency targeted by the Greens, Norwich South, Adrian Ramsay came in fourth despite doubling the Green vote from 2005 to 14.9%. Despite the loss, Greens pointed to recent local victories as evidence that they’re on track to take power in Norwich by 2011, which would mark another first for the party. In the third targeted seat, Lewisham Deptford, Darren Johnson took 11.1%, and Tony Juniper managed 7.6% in Cambridge. At The Guardian, George Monbiot commented on Lucas’ election to parliament: It’s a massive breakthrough, not only because she’s a brilliant, charismatic, humane politican who will enrich parliamentary life, but also because it proves it can be done, even under our antiquated political system.

Unlike many European countries that elect their parliaments using proportional representation, UK elections use first-past-the-post voting, contributing to electoral chaos. From The Guardian’s live election coverage : A hung parliament is virtually inevitable. With more than 500 seats counted, the BBC is predicting that the Conservatives will end up with 306 seats, Labour 262 seats and the Lib Dems 55 seats [325 seats are needed for a majority]. The Conservatives are currently on 37% of the vote, Labour on 28% and the Lib Dems on 23%. The Guardian reports that the Liberal Democrats may demand a switch to proportional representation as a condition for supporting one of the larger parties in coalition. The Greens, who won 8.7% of the vote in last year’s European elections, also support proportional representation. After learning of her historic victory, Caroline Lucas gave the following statement : “The emphatic support of voters in Brighton Pavilion show that they do want to support a party whose values represent fairness, social justice and environmental well-being.

They have shown that they are prepared to put their trust in the Greens, despite the overwhelming national media focus on the three largest parties and a voting system that is fundamentally undemocratic. I feel humbled by their trust in me, and I am excited by this vote of confidence and I’m looking forward to the challenging task of fully representing the voters of Brighton. “This victory is no accident: it is the result of the hard work and commitment of thousands of Green Party members and supporters not only in Brighton but from right across the country over the past months and years. It is their work and support that has helped deliver this win, and the victory is as much theirs as it is mine. “Thanks to the confidence that the voters of Brighton Pavilion have shown, Green principles and policies will now have a voice in Parliament. Policies such as responding to climate change with a million new ‘green’ jobs in low-carbon industries, fair pensions and care for older people, and stronger regulation of the banks will be heard in the House of Commons. I will also use my influence as an MP in the city of Brighton & Hove to push for affordable housing for the city, a new secondary school for the city, and greater backing for the city’s creative industries.

“Finally, as this election shows, the first-past-the post voting system used for general elections is utterly discredited. I will be strongly backing calls for a referendum to replace it with a form of proportional representation that properly reflects the needs and views of 21st century voters. If a form of proportional representation is introduced, the Green Party is confident that its true level of support nationally can be represented properly.” by swest The United Kingdom will hold a parliamentary election sometime between now and June 3. Although the official date hasn’t been announced, candidates are up and running. Green Party of England and Wales party leader Caroline Lucas represents South East England in the European Parliament. She’s standing in the UK Parliamentary seat of Brighton Pavilion in the upcoming election. The Greens already control the local Brighton council and, as we’ve noted before , it looks like Lucas has opened up a small but significant lead in an independent poll . Today’s UK Guardian has a brief article explaining why Lucas’ chances make this one of the more interesting contests in the upcoming election. “One more Tory MP, one more Labour MP – what difference is that going to make?” says Lucas .

“The first Green MP, I think, would have a far greater effect.” To that end, she is fighting hard, and doing as well as you’d expect among people who live in Brighton’s bohemian centre – though much of the battle will be fought in the seat’s more suburban patches, split between traditionally ­Labour-supporting estates and more Tory-favouring areas, with extensive gardens. The Greens are on the upswing in the UK, with 125 councilors not including Scotland, but this Brighton Pavilion is their best shot at breaking into Parliament. In the last election, the Greens nearly tied for second with the Conservatives in this constituency. The party has built up a strong local base and now Lucas is in a position to campaign as the real progressive choice against the Conservatives. I wish there was a way to embed the video accompanying the article into this post, because its fascinating. Journalist John Harris doesn’t pretend to be completely disinterested in politics. He tells everyone straightforwardly that he’s a disgruntled Labour voter. All three candidates address him not so much as a journalist, but as a potential convert.

He asks tough questions of all three candidates, but completes the video by admitting that as a disgruntled Labour voter, he’s got a dilemma. Although he’s concerned about voting in the Conservatives, he no longer feels that New Labour represents his politics. He wonders if its only his “old tribal loyalties” that would stop him from voting Green. This will be one to watch. Links: Brighton Pavilion:The Greens are in trouble everywhere Brighton Pavilion:The Greens are in trouble everywhere Forget surging. Mere survival may be beyond the Greens in Brighton. Sign up for our weekly email * Print HTML For all the talk of a Green surge, the party is unlikely to win any new seats this year. Despite the party’s bluster about its election hopes, its main aim is a defensive one: to ensure that its first MP, Caroline Lucas, is not deposed after a single term. Yet Brighton does not just matter to the Greens. From its performance there, Labour should be able to tell whether Ed Miliband will become Prime Minister. Each of the city’s three seats – Brighton Pavilion, Brighton Kemptown and Hove – were held by Labour between 1997 and 2010.

They fell, in unison, during Labour’s disaster in 2010, but all three have majorities of fewer than 2,000. They now all rank in Labour’s top 30 target seats. In theory, Brighton Pavilion should be the easiest for Labour to gain. It only needs to overturn a majority of 1,252 votes. But the party is struggling to gain traction. A Labour councillor reckons that it is actually the party’s worst electoral prospect in the city. That was borne out by a recent Lord Ashcroft poll, which had Labour trailing by ten points here. Six months earlier, Labour had led by a point. Lucas may have benefited from the furore over the Green Party’s apparent exclusion from the TV debates. While Labour’s default setting is to attack the Conservatives for cuts and being close too to big business, it is not quite sure how to respond when, as in Brighton Pavilion, a party does the same to them. I get a sense of Labour’s predicament as I stroll around with Purna Sen, Labour’s candidate for the seat.

She would add to a woefully under-represented demographic in the House of Commons: the first female Asian MPs were only elected in 2010. Sen is a fizzy candidate and no carpetbagger: she has lived in Brighton for six years and been visiting since 1968, when her brother studied at Sussex University. She also possesses “real life” experience of the sort so lacking in Westminster, with a long career in human rights—she was Director for the Asia-Pacific Programme at Amnesty International and an Advisor to Justice for Gay Africans. She even marched against the Iraq War, a seminal moment in moving many Brighton voters against Labour. None of this will matter much unless Sen is able to articulate a powerful case for why voters who self-identity on the left should rid Britain of its only Green MP. While Sen asserts that the Greens are “not in favour of growth” and oppose all housing development, she emphasises her agreement “on a number of positions” with Lucas. But her real case to the voters of Brighton Pavilion is not about policies. “What we disagree with is how to change things,” Sen tells me. “Her political method is to be outside a mainstream party and to be an independent voice.

My strategy is to be part of a party of government that delivers change.” The difficulty is that this pitch – “We’ve got to be practical about what can be done” and “not just protest, which is what Caroline Lucas does, but to govern” – risks sounding like yearning for an age of two-party politics that has long since gone. In an age of political promiscuousness, this attack rather suits Lucas. I meet her manning a stall on London Road. It is a long way removed from North Lane, which, with shops like “Vegetarian Shoes”, is the caricature of Brighton. Several of London Road’s shops have fallen into disuse and are laden with graffiti. The protruding 99p store serves as evidence of the Greens trying to extend their appeal beyond their traditional base of well-off students and young professionals. “It’s too simple and dismissive”, Lucas tells me, to say a vote for the Greens is “only a middle-class vote from the North Lane. It isn’t. It’s a lot of people who are just fed up with the political system and want to be able to believe in politics again.” But there can be few seats where the two leading candidates agree on so much.

Sen has tried to position herself as more pro-immigration than her party and shares Lucas’ opposition to nuclear power. An oddity of the tussle in Brighton Pavilion is that, while Senemphasises areas of agreement between the two candidates, Lucas does the opposite, attacking her as a Labour Party lackey. “I don’t think Purna Sen can have it both ways,” she says. “On the doorstep she’s saying that we need a Labour government. That implies that if she’s elected to represent Brighton Pavilion she will support a Labour government come what may. She will go through that voting lobby according to her party whip.” To Lucas, “by implication she is saying that she will support Ed Miliband even when she doesn’t agree with him.” Lucas has another riposte to Sen’s claim that a solitary Green MP can achieve little. She claims that her re-election would lead Labour to be “more radical” and push the party to the left. To Lucas, the timidity of Labour is embodied by its “half-hearted policy” on railways.

The party would allow state-owned providers to bid for lines against existing franchises, proof of a party that “doesn’t have the courage of its convictions.” In a commuter town with a notoriously unreliable train service – my train to Brighton is 15 minutes late, which elicits weary resignation rather than surprise among passengers – Lucas’s call for full-blooded renationalisation of the railways is a popular one. And the rare sight of a grandmother asking an MP for a selfie is proof of Lucas’s popularity. Jo, a self-described “activist and anarchist” in her 40s, asks Lucas how she vote for her—in what would be her first vote. The warmth with which constituents greet her is an antidote to the notion that politicians are doomed to be loathed. Even her enemies concede as much. Neil Schofield, a former Green councillor who has now defected to Labour, describes her as “a very conscious, very able MP who has a really strong public profile and has raised issues in Parliament”. Lucas’s presence in Westminster reflects the long-term disengagement of the electorate from mainstream parties.

The percentage of the population who supported the Conservatives or Labour at the ballot box declined from 80 per cent in 1951 to just 42 per cent in 2010. Brighton has been at the epicentre of this new, pluralistic world. Keith Taylor increased the Green vote in Brighton Pavilion from 2.6 per cent in 1997 to 21.9 per cent in 2005 – a strong third-placed finish from which Lucas, who controversially replaced Taylor as candidate before the last election, used as a springboard to winning the Green Party’s first seat. “The sense that people will vote just what they’ve always voted and what their families have always voted is breaking down massively,” Lucas says. “We see that obviously with the rise of Ukip. But one of the things that the rise of Ukip has done is actually just remind people that there is a greater variety out there in terms of the options of who to vote for.” The rise of Ukip has also allowed the Greens to trumpet its own credentials as the “anti-Ukip” party. Yet support for Lucas has not been replicated by support for the party.

Brighton Council, which became the first Green-controlled council in the UK in 2011, is widely unpopular. Shoppers and shopkeepers on London Road grumble about a litany of problems: bin strikes, exorbitant parking prices and a 20mph speed limit. The problem seems to be less one of ideology than competence. Brighton council infamously ranks 302nd out of 326 councils for recycling. The council’s failings are a big threat to Lucas. A knotty pensioner confronts Lucas on her stall, accusing the council of “creating more traffic for no reason”. The exchange ends with Lucas saying she “will pass it on” to Green councillors. Whether Lucas wins re-election will partly be determined by whether she avoids being dragged down by the council’s unpopularity. Her strategy is to run as a quasi-independent. She describes her appeal to voters as “less a policy issue but just the sense that they’ve got an MP that will stand up for what they believe in”. Lucas has not been shy about criticising the council. “There are lots of things I would have done differently to the council,” she tells me.

Lucas has publicly criticised its handling of the bin strikes, and calls the parking hikes to up to £20 a day in parts of the city “too far and too fast.” Labour carp that there is little mention of the Greens on Lucas’ campaign literature: the Green Party logo nestles discreetly at the bottom of a Lucas leaflet. That Lucas stood down as Green leader in 2012 makes it easier for her to distance herself from the council, and win over voters like my taxi driver. “I’ll vote for her again because she’s very good,” he tells me while simultaneously berating the council. “They don’t like car drivers.” Should Lucas retain her seat, it will be reward for her competence and assiduousness as an MP. Even in the Green fiefdom of Brighton Pavilion, voters have no sympathy with ideological grandstanding. While it is a lesson that few Green councillors appear to have recognised, it should not go unheeded by Green candidates, like Darren Hall in Bristol West, who hope to join her in Westminster. The Greens launched their election campaign today. Tim Wigmore's profile of Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas' constituency, originally appeared on our sister site May2015 .

Election 2015: Greens' Caroline Lucas wins in Brighton - BBC News BBC News Election 2015: Greens' Caroline Lucas wins in Brighton 8 May 2015 Close share panel Media captionGreen Party's Caroline Lucas: "This is the Green's most successful election campaign ever" The Green Party's Caroline Lucas has held her seat in Brighton Pavilion with an increased share of the vote. Ms Lucas, who became the party's first MP in 2010, gained 22,871 votes, ahead of Labour's Purna Sen with 14,904. She said the election campaign was the "most successful" ever for the Greens. However, despite a record vote share of 3.8%, the party did not add to its one seat, missing out in key targets Bristol West and Norwich South. The swing of 10.1% to the Greens in Brighton Pavilion came largely at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, who were down 11% on 2010 with 1,525 votes, finishing fifth. The Conservatives were in third place and UKIP fourth.

Following her win, Ms Lucas said the Greens had "made history" and had had the "most successful election campaign ever, with almost a million people voting Green". However, she added that the results had shown "the political system in this country is broken". Image caption Caroline Lucas got a hug from a supporter following her victory "It's ever clearer tonight that the time for electoral reform is long overdue, and it's only proportional representation that will deliver a Parliament that is truly legitimate and better reflects the people it is meant to represent." Green Party membership has surged in recent months and the party had hoped it would translate into more parliamentary seats. Green Party leader Natalie Bennett finished third in the safe Labour sweat in Holborn and St Pancras. Analysis, by BBC correspondent June Kelly Natalie Bennett was one of the fresh faces of this election. Following in the trail of Caroline Lucas, an assured leader and media performer, was always going to be tough. Ms Bennett came a cropper before the campaign had begun with a shambolic radio interview which she put down to "brain fade". After that, her personal challenge was to demonstrate she was a competent leader with a grip on policy. She stood in the central London seat of Holborn and St Pancras.

This was safe Labour territory and she came third, ahead of the Lib Dems. Like other leaders of the smaller parties, Ms Bennett was given a more public platform in this ground breaking election. We were told voters were hungry for alternatives. The Green leader needed to capitalise on this and broaden the party's appeal. It appears they have increased their share of the vote, including in some of the big northern cities. Put to her that there had been no Green "surge", Ms Bennett pointed to increases in the party's membership. And she restated her pledge that the party would do "everything we possibly can" to ensure there was not a Conservative government.

Asked whether she would step down if the party did not perform well, Ms Bennett replied: "I'll be serving out my full two years' term." Green Party | Greens retain Brighton Pavilion seat and win over one million votes Greens retain Brighton Pavilion seat and win over one million votes Greens retain Brighton Pavilion seat and win over one million votes 8 May 2015 Greens retain Brighton Pavilion seat and win over one million votes *Caroline Lucas increases majority in Brighton Pavilion by 11% *Green Party receives record number of votes *Green leader Natalie Bennett: “The fight for a fairer, more democratic voting system begins today.” Caroline Lucas has grown her majority in Brighton Pavilion by 11%, winning 22,871 votes. Across the country, over a million people voted Green – more than four times as many people than at any other General Election. The party came second in four seats, including Bristol West, where Darren Hall received the biggest ever upswing in a General Election in England and Wales – taking the Green vote up 23% to 26.8%. Greens also retained around 100 deposits and beat the Liberal Democrats in 126 seats.

In 2010, they beat them in just one. Green leader Natalie Bennett, who won a record result in Holborn & St Pancras, said: "The Green surge has only just begun. Retaining Caroline Lucas, our wonderful Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, and recording at least four second-place finishes puts the Greens firmly on track to make further electoral breakthroughs. "I am immensely proud to have led the party into a General Election where we have been able to stand more Green candidates than ever before, recorded our best ever share of the vote and saved more deposits than ever before. "Our astounding membership surge in the last year, which means the Green Party now has more members than both Ukip and the Liberal Democrats, has helped deliver tonight’s fantastic results for the Greens from Hackney to Sheffield. "The Green Party are the only party that truly stands up for what they believe in and I am delighted to see our commitment to deliver a fair economy, a public NHS and a safe climate has resonated with so many voters. The people have demonstrated their desire to see real change for the common good.

"These election results show that the political landscape has fractured and we now live in an era of multi-party politics where the politics of the future no longer has to look like the politics of the past. "The fact that we have achieved over one million votes yet not been rewarded with more MPs draws into sharp focus just how unfair and outdated our winner-takes-all voting system is. The fight for a fairer, more democratic voting system – one which recognises the will of the people rather than entrenches the established order - begins today .” Caroline Lucas said: “In 2010, Brighton Pavilion showed that a different kind of politics is possible. That you can stand firm by your principles and still be elected. “And in re-electing me tonight Brighton has made history again. I couldn’t be more proud to be an MP of this wonderful city. I’m completely honoured to be able to represent it again. “But there’s not a moment to lose. Amid the most savage, targeted austerity cuts in modern history, and with parties set on wringing 'every last drop of oil' from the North Sea, even as climate change accelerates - the urgency of a strong, clear Green voice in Parliament has never been greater.

“We will hold Parliament to account and push for real reform – starting with proportional representation, for a politics that looks far more like the people it’s supposed to represent.

Question: Who is the only MP of the Green Party, representing Brighton Pavilion?
Answer: CAROLINE LUCAS